Can Green Tea Help You Live Longer?

Yes it can. The reason simply is that green tea can prevent conditions associated with certain diseases.

Green tea has long been publicized as a beverage exceptionally beneficial to health. This common drink is so popular that the tea, the extracts, and the plant itself Camellia sinensis has been researched quite extensively. Here are some of those positive effects and how they’ve been proven and explained by various scientific studies.

Reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases
A longer life naturally requires a healthy heart and circulatory system. Green tea is able to help in this regard by slowing down the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) otherwise known as the bad cholesterol.
This was shown by a study from Japan’s National Defense Medical College [1]. The particular antioxidant this study proved to be most effective in this regard happens to be the most abundant substance of this type in green tea – epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).

Another research this time from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan [2] mapped out a correlation between habitual drinking of green tea and the risk of developing hypertension. The study involved men and women with a minimum age of 20. One of the results showed that drinking at least 120 milliliters a day of green tea reduced the risk of getting high blood pressure by 46%.

Reduce the risk of diabetes and control body weight
The dominant green tea substance EGCG was also found to stimulate insulin production and thus help the body better regulate blood glucose levels [3]. Insulin as you may know is the hormone the pancreas produces to tell liver and muscle tissues to store extraneous sugar in the blood. When the body’s capacity to properly produce insulin malfunctions the result is often diabetes.

Controlling body weight is another important factor in keeping healthy and living longer. When you regularly spend more energy or burn calories, you’re able to maintain a more appropriate body weight. Green tea antioxidant substances called catechins (of which EGCG is one type) along with the caffeine content have been shown to increase one’s energy expenditure [4]. The study that demonstrated this effect used green tree extract composed of 50 mg of caffeine and 90 mg of EGCG.

Reduce the risk of cancer
Cancer is thought to be a lifestyle as well as age related disease. Any food with nutrient substances that limit cell damage as you grow old and prevent the growth of cancerous cells is cancer preventive food. The abundant antioxidants in green tea make this beverage effective against this disease.

Once again EGCG was shown to be a protagonist by inhibiting the growth of breast cancer cells in a study from the University of Alabama [5]. In another research from the Arizona Cancer Center, green tea catechins were shown to fight cancer via stimulation of protective enzymes [6]. These enzymes called glutathione S-transferase (GST) are crucial in defending the body from cancer-causing toxins. The concentration of green tea antioxidants used on the control group of participants was equivalent to 8 to 16 cups.

There are more beneficial effects that green tea can provide. On the subject of prolonging life however, it is perhaps these three major areas discussed that green tea plays a most crucial role.

Drinking this tea regularly is the most typical way to acquire the antioxidant substances. But did you know that you can get more by actually eating the green tea leaves? Click here to see a comparative list between brewed green tea and whole green tea leaves. You can also read more about how green tea can help prevent or treat specific ailments on this page.